RDC25 Roblox Developer Conference | Builderman Q&A
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< Table of Contents >
- Favorite moment from RDC
- Biggest innovation in the next 5–10 years
- Engine / graphics highlights
- Regional servers & latency (Brazil announcement)
- On very large games (e.g., “Grow a Garden,” “Steal a Brain”)
- Why Roblox is adding server authority
- Trading and economy APIs
- Fabric simulation for avatars
- Opportunities for independent music creators
- Child safety and off-platform behavior
- Under-13 players in 13+ games
- Fairness in moderation across shared Wi-Fi
- Expanding Roblox events in Europe
- Game acquisitions on Roblox
- Bringing back holiday sales
- Sensitive content policy vs. censorship
- Trading, UGC knockoffs, and limiteds
- UGC revenue split
- Roblox Studio on Chromebooks & education
- Advertising UGC & groups
- Advanced GPU/shader access
- Generative AI and creators
- Roblox on handhelds (and beyond)
- Soft-body physics and crash simulation
- Shape keys and UGC avatars
- Preventing NSFW content with AI
- Studio controls on mobile
- Native code generation in Luau
- VR on Roblox
- Roblox on cloud gaming & new platforms
- Apple, Google, and the Epic Games fight
- Mental resilience as a CEO
- Preserving Roblox’s history
This year at Roblox RDC25 (Roblox Developer Conference 2025), the Builderman Q&A (Question and Answer) along with the new Safety Q&A (Question and Answer) was private and kept to attendees only. Roblox has recently released an anonymized transcript of the questions and answers.
Favorite moment from RDC
Two moments: seeing the crowd’s applause for DevX and sharing a smile with new CFO Naveen in the front row; and being pleasantly surprised by the engine team’s demo (he hadn’t seen the emissive-maps announcement beforehand) — he loved the tech and the talent on display.
Biggest innovation in the next 5–10 years
Not a single “killer feature” — lots of small iterations add up. The big shifts will be scale, performance, and quality: cloud-connected engines will be the norm, and engines that aren’t AI-accelerated (for scale and photoreal quality) won’t make sense within five years.
Engine / graphics highlights
He was excited by the engine work shown at RDC (e.g., emissive maps) and emphasized that engine-level improvements tied to scale and quality are a major focus area.
Regional servers & latency (Brazil announcement)
Local servers matter a lot. Brazil is live, and Roblox will keep adding servers or using cloud-bursting where hotspots appear. They use country-by-country metrics (P5 heartbeat) to target worst-performing experiences and aim to provide predictable, proportional CPU to players.
On very large games (e.g., “Grow a Garden,” “Steal a Brain”)
David called big hit games a positive: they’re not zero-sum — they attract players to the platform and help discovery. He likes seeing new forms (like async features that run while you’re offline) and wants both broad strength across genres and the freedom for game definitions to evolve (shorter, more spontaneous, real-time segments).
Why Roblox is adding server authority
Roblox is balancing client-side 3D (for instant responsiveness, like Zoom) with server authority (for fairness and realism). Competitive games need server authority to prevent cheating and enable accurate simulations (like car pit maneuvers). The system will be optional — creators can mix both approaches depending on gameplay needs.
Trading and economy APIs
On one-off item trades (like the Turbo Builder Club hat for David’s pumpkin head), David hinted at future improvements to trading and Roblox’s economics APIs. For now, it’s “stay tuned.”
Fabric simulation for avatars
Currently, Roblox clothes act like “stretchy plastic bags.” David confirmed the team is discussing proper fabric simulation so clothing can feel more realistic.
Opportunities for independent music creators
Roblox is working on IP licensing tools (like deals with Kodansha) to support music and video creators. Independent producers may soon have better ways to license, share, and even chart their work. Roblox could also become a hub for music discovery and live performances.
Child safety and off-platform behavior
David acknowledged the challenge: every platform and legislator cares deeply about safety, but judging creators based on off-platform actions is complex. Roblox aims to prioritize safety while carefully avoiding overreach, focusing on content within Roblox itself.
Under-13 players in 13+ games
Roblox is exploring whether users of different ages could share the same 3D space while experiencing different filtered content (like less violent visuals for under-13s). This would mean shifting from “everyone sees the same thing” toward more personalized content layers.
Fairness in moderation across shared Wi-Fi
David acknowledged that siblings sometimes get unfairly penalized when sharing the same network. He admitted moderation isn’t perfect but said Roblox’s safety team is improving “hyper-discrimination” to reduce false positives and handle multiple accounts in the same household more fairly.
Expanding Roblox events in Europe
David didn’t have a firm answer but said Roblox has been scaling up global events (Tokyo Game Show, Gamescom). They’ll share more about future schedules, but he appreciated hearing how impactful Gamescom was.
Game acquisitions on Roblox
Acquisitions are part of a free market. Roblox doesn’t control them but wants transparency so creators understand the real value of their work and avoid bad deals. Many acquisitions so far have been fair and respectful, and transparency helps ensure good outcomes.
Bringing back holiday sales
A creator proposed reviving classic Roblox holiday sales. David said he’s open to seeing the proposal and interested in finding ways to systematize seasonal sales. He noted how gift cards and retail partners (like Amazon and Target) could tie into those opportunities.
Sensitive content policy vs. censorship
David pushed back on the idea that Roblox’s sensitive content policy is censorship. He framed it as parental choice: when topics split public opinion 50/50 (like marriage equality or vaccination), Roblox defaults to not showing them to young kids so parents can decide. He stressed Roblox supports free expression (e.g., political rallies, news sharing) where legal.
Trading, UGC knockoffs, and limiteds
David said Roblox is just getting started on better economic systems. Two big priorities:
- Safer in-experience economies with APIs that still allow a free market.
- Stronger IP protections — proactive scanning, validated accounts, and Roblox putting its own classic items into the IP platform to “eat our own dog food.”
UGC revenue split
David said he’s in favor of higher creator payouts long-term. Roblox’s growth depends on flowing more money back to creators, not hoarding profit. As infrastructure becomes more efficient (currently under a penny per user-hour worldwide), Roblox will have more room to increase DevEx rates. No immediate changes, but “everything’s on the table.”
Roblox Studio on Chromebooks & education
Roblox doesn’t plan a custom Chromebook/Linux build of Studio, but David hinted at a future where Studio itself could run as a Roblox experience. He also highlighted Roblox’s growing educational push — discovery tools, OAuth for schools, and experiences that support teaching subjects like history, physics, and math.
Advertising UGC & groups
User ads were “wacky and fun,” but Roblox removed them to focus on long-term health. Discovery and advertising are being designed to prioritize user happiness and sustainable creator success, not short-term monetization. This means UGC, groups, and experiences could get more visibility in ways that benefit both users and creators over time.
Advanced GPU/shader access
Roblox won’t give “trusted creators” exclusive shader or GPU-level features — everything must eventually be available to everyone, from beginners to top studios. Shaders are on the roadmap, but Roblox is exploring a universal shader language optimized in the cloud for all devices.
Generative AI and creators
David compared AI fears to resisting assembly lines during the industrial revolution. He argued AI will expand opportunities, not shrink them — making Roblox “8x bigger” would mean the creator community also grows 8x. Roblox intends to go “all in” on AI to keep ahead of competitors, even if it comes with risks.
Roblox on handhelds (and beyond)
Asked if Roblox would ever make its own handheld console under $150, David said Roblox won’t build hardware itself — the company wants to run on every device, not take on hardware risk. He noted there’s still “one handheld” Roblox isn’t on yet (likely Nintendo Switch) and teased other device classes worth watching: living room TVs, AR glasses, and even far-future “Black Mirror”-style neural interfaces. Supporting new platforms is less about difficulty and more about whether the user base is big enough.
Soft-body physics and crash simulation
A developer asked about BeamNG-style deformable car crash physics. David called it “super cool” and said Roblox thinks a lot about flexible and deformable body simulation. While it’s extremely compute-intensive, Roblox could eventually support it by combining hyper-parallelized physics with efficient CPU allocation — or even AI-powered “faked” simulations that still look compelling. The key insight: games don’t need engineering-grade accuracy, just results convincing to human perception.
Shape keys and UGC avatars
Asked if Roblox will add mesh shape key support for easier facial animation, David said it’s not on the roadmap right now. The current focus is performance, scale, and making animation fully interchangeable — with improvements like retargeting and inverse kinematics. He left the door open, though, saying the team is open to exploring new systems for avatar animation in the future.
Preventing NSFW content with AI
With generative AI tools emerging, a developer raised concerns about inappropriate content. David argued AI actually improves safety: Roblox will soon be able to automatically evaluate avatars, models, and experiences at high fidelity, checking for things like age-appropriateness, copyright, and legality. He predicted Roblox’s already strict moderation standards will only get stronger as AI scales.
Studio controls on mobile
One studio director asked for better mobile support to manage games and teams. David agreed that Roblox’s tools should feel mobile-first — just like the company’s internal systems. He suggested future improvements could make it possible to handle more studio and team management directly inside the app.
Native code generation in Luau
Finally, a technical question: could Roblox allow compiled Luau scripts to run natively on client devices? David said Roblox already compiles scripts on servers and would love to push compiled code to clients too. The main blocker is Apple’s restrictions against dynamic code execution on iOS. David said Roblox will keep pressing Apple on this — and hinted that other platforms could benefit sooner.
VR on Roblox
A developer asked if Roblox would invest more heavily in VR. David said yes — even though VR is still a relatively small market, Roblox doesn’t want to risk falling behind. UX and in-game systems will continue to move toward “100% VR support,” ensuring that everything works well on headsets. He added that VR’s performance challenges (rendering two views instead of one) have driven optimizations that benefit the entire Roblox ecosystem, including mobile devices.
Roblox on cloud gaming & new platforms
David confirmed Roblox is actively evaluating cloud platforms like GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Amazon Luna, along with devices like Steam Deck and Apple TV. The company generally prefers to go native rather than streaming, but wants Roblox to “be everywhere.” Living room TVs are especially high on the list, given the rise of watching content together.
Apple, Google, and the Epic Games fight
On the Epic Games vs. Apple/Google lawsuits, David called Epic’s stand “gutsy,” but predicted regulation — not lawsuits — will ultimately shape the outcome. He highlighted Roblox’s workarounds, like giving users 25% more Robux on web or gift card purchases, which already shifts spending away from app stores. He suggested Roblox could qualify for lower app store fees (15% instead of 30%) since most creators earn less than $1M, and said “stay tuned” as this evolves.
Mental resilience as a CEO
A developer asked David how he stays strong through negativity and obstacles. He compared being a CEO to a physical sport like wrestling or boxing, where health, fitness, diet, and sleep matter as much as strategy. He also described monitoring his own brain “like a computer” — asking whether it’s running at 80% or 100%. When he’s at 100%, challenges feel solvable; when at 80%, everything feels impossible. The key, he said, is keeping your “computer” in top condition.
Preserving Roblox’s history
The final question was about preserving legacy Roblox games, especially those with under 1,000 visits that risk becoming unplayable. A community archivist showed David an early 2006 build saved by Shedletsky and described their preservation project. David said this issue is “exactly on point” with Roblox’s internal discussions. He promised Roblox won’t let its history be lost, likening the stakes to the burning of the Library of Alexandria: “We’re not going to burn the libraries of Alexandria.”
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